The Glade 4.0

This was not a good performance, but it's not reasonable to expect he will never make mistakes with people actively trying to trip him up. What I was getting at was that his overall performance since the inauguration is not easily evaluated. People don't like him because of the guy he's representing or they like him because he's not taking any crap, but his adeptness isn't actually being looked at because no one is looking at it except in terms of whether they like it or not.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

True enough. I just mean that I value rational arguments over emotional arguments in debate (even if I don't always live up to my own standards), whereas the contemporary identity-focused left puts a lot of stock in the inherent validity of emotion and often prioritizes it over rationality. If someone says, "I feel unsafe," that's the end of the discussion, and responding with, "You are objectively not unsafe, for the following reasons...," is considered a serious transgression. People on the right often do the same thing in practice of course (usually on their version of identity issues like patriotism, religion, sexuality, cultural change, etc.), but it's only the left these days that actually deploys a theoretical framework in support of that practice.

Trolling? I mean, come on. It *should* be obvious by now man.

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Holy shitsnacks!

His performance is absolutely easily evaluated.

He's awful. He's a liar. He's an idiot.

See how easily that was done?

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Holy shitsnacks!

It's legit hard to tell what you're trolling with and what's you having gone of the deep end lately.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I see you've decided to supply evidence for my position.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I could support those positions. But they *should* be self-evident to anyone with a functioning brain. From the day 1 lie about the inauguration crowd size to the latest nonsense about Hitler... he is so far out of his depth its just sad.

And as far as the press corps trying to "trip him up"... that's kind of part and parcel of the job. Just like a grocery store checker drags groceries across a laser, a blackjack dealer shuffles cards and deals them, or a plumber snakes a toilet.... If you can't do a core function of your job without snaking the groceries, or handing out turds to your players... You probably shouldn't be doing that job.

Course, it doesn't help when you've "declared war" on the press and have done everything you can to promote an adversarial relationship with them its kind of your own fault.

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Holy shitsnacks!

This is actually the problem "Anyone who doesn't think what I think obviously doesn't have a functioning brain." This is A) well poisoning fallacy and B) either a sign of intellectual laziness or intellectual deficiency. If you can't understand how anyone with a "functioning brain" could think something different than what you think, the problem is with you. Almost everyone holds unreasonable positions on something; this doesn't mean they are unreasonable on everything or there is something wrong with them.



Kind of like you being out of your depth trying to pass your bomb-damage assessment off as something accurate?



No, it's actually not, because it isn't the job of the press corps to actively try to make it more difficult. Asking pressing questions on the facts is part of their job. However, the current press corps there is into the practice of simply rejecting the answers out of hand because Trump. Reporters actively do this on a daily basis; they sit there and start shaking their heads or something right in the middle of an answer because it isn't the answer they want.

This is not a menial repetitive task like scanning groceries, and the analogy is not appropriate.



This is entirely, 100%, the fault of the press. The press went from "lol Trump" and doing things like giving him more coverage - even of his empty podium - than all other candidates combined in 2015 - to panic and outright hostility when it became clear he was going to get the nomination.

The press has tried to excuse itself with pompous statements about their imaginary responsibility to oppose Trump, but it isn't their responsibility. It's the people's job to decide whether that's necessary. The job of the press is to report, not to tell people what to think.

Trust in the press is absolutely in the toilet because they've been lying and pushing agendas for years. Spicer absolutely should be stomping all over them until they make a concerted effort to treat Trump like every other President. That is the only acceptable standard for their behavior, that's their responsibility to the public. It is not the job of the administration to cater to them, especially not after their fawning over his predecessor.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

So Spicer isn't lying in the course of his duties? He hasn't made demonstrably false statements? He hasn't condescended and shouted down people asking him difficult questions?

Funny, cause I've seen him do all of those things. Repeatedly.

Oh, and for the bomb damage ****? That's not my job. My sole purpose in life.

Press secretary? That's his job. He has handled it with all of the aplomb of a monkey presented with a football. Except more dishonest.

But then, that description fits almost all of 45's cabinet. So, there's that. Under that umbrella, he fits in perfectly.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I don't care who he shouts down. It's the press. They need to understand that the old ways are over. As for him "lying", I haven't noticed that politicians or their spokesmen are ever models of truthfulness. He's not exceptional, and I don't expect whoever comes after Trump to be any different.

I have, however, noticed that the press lies just as much as he does. Hell, there are "fact check" websites that regularly spend 3,000 words trying to redefine terms so they can claim someone was lying when they pretty clearly weren't. It's not like the press is out there being guardians of truth; they're just as full of **** as the people they report on.



You're missing the point. You get way out of your depth insisting on a completely absurd assessment of a missile attack, an assessment you have no business making, because it affirms what you want to think.

Your assessment of Spicer isn't your job either - but it sure as hell is what you want to think.



No press secretary for Trump would ever get a different assessment from you.



You know, there's a line about this way of thinking - it's right there in my signature. The fact that these people piss off the internet armchair quarterbacks is an indication they're doing a good job.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

You and I have VASTLY different opinions of "Doing a good job".

I can tell you, the current crop of administration wonks are not "doing a good job". Unless that job is to roll us back to the 50's in terms of civil rights, environmental protections, educational reform, healthcare, and so on.

Then? They're doing awesome. Hence, regressive.

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Holy shitsnacks!

you're missing the point. Trump says its awesome. Terrific, Great. Spicer says its phenomenal, fantastic, incredible.

It must be so. DE obviously believes it.

Seriously though, I've NEVER seen any organization so hell bent on telling us how great they are or are going to be. Or how true they are.

But its pretty much what Margret Thatcher said about being a Lady and being Powerful.
Paraphrasing, "if you have tell people you are; you aren't"

They're doing nothing of the sort. This is the fearmongering bullshit directed at every Republican simply for not wanting to engage in perpetual increaeses of favoritism towards designated victim groups.

Ever since the 1950s, the Democrats have just thrown more and more money at these problems, done little to improve them, harvested votes from special interests getting the largesse, and relied on screaming this straw man at a credulous press to lure people into buying it.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Neither I, nor anyone else, care that Trump claims everything is great. Trump's personal habit of running off at the mouth is not what people like.

But by all means, keep thinking this. Arrogant, self-assured condescension really put you in the driver's seat, didn't it?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

No more or less so than anyone else's, yours included.

Yeah... the electoral, congressional, gubernatorial, and state legislative maps contradict you.

I see some of you just engage in resentful snarky BS and I see RD, and (of late) Xew trying to make reasoned cases.

I also know which is more prevalent on the Left. You've got Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher versus The Atlantic, and sadly the Atlantic is losing - badly.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I'm still incredulous that you're bragging that this ridiculous piece of **** is president and that the republicans are doing their damndest to ruin the economy, environment, civil rights, social safety nets.

It's rapidly becoming clear that immortality immorality disgusted as party loyalty is the defining characteristic of the Right.

I'm confused. They never die?

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

immorality. Posting from my phone does not lead to high quality posts.

I get why you believe most of these except for the part about ruining the economy. What's your basis for this?

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The Dude abides.

That's not the phone's fault.

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Sitting back, eating the popcorn, and thinking DE is actually winning this thread by reasoned argument and military and political knowledge.

Since I'm not engaging in this argument, and trying to read everything for content and sense, I'm surprised at finding this to be so.

By the way, if you are reading along, you realize DE is not a Trump or Trump administration fanboy, far from it. He is just explaining the why and the reality of what is going on, from his point of view true, but I think he has a lot of it right.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

The thing that really bothers me about a lot of liberal-leaning communities is that they can't seem to maintain any kind of the emotional distance required to actually have a serious discussion about anything. For example, say there's a controversial rape case in the news right now. You can't post something along the lines of, "Well, there is actually a chance this guy is innocent, and the justice system should at least consider that" because, on any forum of sufficient size, there probably is at least one person there that actually was raped and actually did not have their complaints taken seriously by the justice system. That person will then proceed to explode on you, and it is impossible to effectively respond.

I'm in an argument on one right now where I really, really want to respond with, "You know, it's probably not very smart for LGBT people to make "greater good" arguments considering how small of a percentage of the total population you actually are," but I can't, because I know that will result in a drama explosion followed by me almost certainly getting banned.

Yeah, and it's not even just that they can't maintain emotional distance, it's that they believe that it's wrong to expect them to try, because that expectation is an aspect of "respectability politics" and an oppressive tactic that the privileged use to silence the marginalized via "tone policing". It's a part of their baseline value system to prioritize the expression of feelings over rational arguments. It's like trying to have a rational argument about religion with a fundamentalist that considers the very act of questioning blasphemous.

It's interesting how you keep going back to the Presidency while ignoring the rest of the electoral situation. It's almost as if you're afraid to confront the fact that only a small portion of the country is buying what your selling, and the rest knows you're only pretending to give a **** about them.

All those things you claim Republicans are runing - you're going to have to start making the case that they actually are, without the fearmongering language, without the condescension and virtue-signalling and without all the slurs - racist, sexist, all the rest - that you like using in place of argument. I realize that having to defend your positions on even terms rather than using a sympathetic press and shaming tactics is terrifying, but when you're in a hole, stop **** digging. When your tactics aren't working, change them.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."